 |
In 2016, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety put three iconic American muscle coupes through its full crash test battery — and none of them earned a Top Safety Pick award. The results reignited a debate that’s still running in the comments years later: is muscle car styling fundamentally at odds with occupant protection, or is the real problem driver behavior and lax licensing standards? Watch to see exactly where each car came up short.
This 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 spent forty years sitting untouched, accumulating dust while the collector market around it exploded. Built from a Trans-Am homologation special that Chevrolet only ever intended for racing, it represents the peak production year of one of the most celebrated small-block muscle cars ever built. Read on to find out what forty years of storage actually does to a car like this.
The Hemi Challenger convertible now ranks among the most valuable classic Mopars ever sold at auction — a strange fate for a car that, by 1970s sales figures, came remarkably close to being called a commercial failure. Discontinued after just five years on the market, the original Challenger’s brief production run quietly built the foundation for its soaring collector value today. Read on to find out what actually went wrong, and why it stopped mattering.
Every May, a decommissioned coal mine in Herten, Germany fills with rat-rodded Ford Model Bs, chopped Chevrolet Bel Airs, slammed Volkswagen Kombis, and custom choppers for Kustom Kulture Forever, arguably the biggest custom culture show on the European continent. The 2017 edition brought tattoo artists, a skate ramp, and two tents of late-night parties alongside the cars. Read on to find out how postwar California car culture ended up thriving in the heart of the Ruhr Valley.
Fifty years after breaking Ferrari six-year stranglehold on Le Mans, Ford is putting that victory back on the road with a heritage-liveried GT. This gloss red, red-stitched special edition ties back to one of the greatest underdog wins in racing history. See how Ford turned a decades-old Le Mans triumph into a modern tribute.
Mecum’s Kissimmee auction is famous for volume — acres of muscle cars crossing the block over more than a week. But the real draw for serious collectors is the oddball that shouldn’t exist at all, like a factory-built Pontiac Trans Am wagon GM never intended to sell to the public. Here’s the story behind one of the strangest survivors to ever roll across an auction stage.
The 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon shipped with two different keys, each unlocking a genuinely different power output depending on what fuel is in the tank — 808 horsepower on regular pump gas, or the full 840 on 100+ octane race fuel. Making that switch safe required a second engine computer and a built-in failsafe against mixing fuels. Read on to find out how the system actually works.
Pontiac built just 3,797 Judges for 1970, wrapped in Hurst shifters, Ram Air 400 power, and a name borrowed straight from Laugh-In. What started as a plan for a budget alternative to the Road Runner ended up as one of the most recognizable muscle car packages Detroit ever built. Read on to find out how a sitcom catchphrase became a six-figure auction star.
By the mid-1960s, Oldsmobile had a branding problem hiding in plain sight: the word “old” sitting right in its own name. The company’s answer wasn’t a rename, it was a full reinvention built around the 4-4-2 option package, a livelier Cutlass lineup, and advertising aimed at buyers who had never considered an Oldsmobile before. Read on to find out how a brand built for retirees ended up building some of the era’s most collected muscle cars.
At first glance, Ed Roethel’s two-door Pontiac wagon looks like a converted Chevelle from the mid-1960s. It isn’t — Pontiac never built a two-door wagon on this platform in any year, which makes this a genuine one-off creation rather than a rare factory survivor. Read on to find out what it took to fabricate a body style that never officially existed.
Chevrolet built just 4,889 L78-equipped Camaro SS396s for 1969, a 375-horsepower solid-lifter big-block that made up less than 2 percent of that year’s production. Mike Angelo’s restored Tuxedo Black example argues that a proper restoration can hit just as hard as any barn find. Read on to find out what separates a genuine L78 from an ordinary SS396.
Pontiac hasn’t built a Firebird since 2002, yet a Florida restomod shop is turning out brand-new Trans Ams with carbon fiber bodywork and up to 1,000 horsepower under the hood. For the Firebird’s 50th anniversary, Trans Am Depot limited its special edition to just eight convertibles and eight hardtops. Read on to find out how a dead nameplate keeps finding new life.
The decades-old Mustang-versus-Camaro rivalry has found unlikely new life in China, where Ford’s later-arriving pony car has outsold Chevrolet’s by more than 3-to-1 despite a four-year head start for the Camaro. The gap traces back to one detail muscle car fans will recognize instantly: engine choice. Read on to find out why a turbocharged four-cylinder cost Chevrolet the fight.
Spy footage of a camouflaged 2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE testing at Germany’s Nurburgring hinted GM was chasing something bigger than a marketing photo op. The 650-horsepower pony car went on to post a 7:16.04 lap, the fastest ever by a GM production vehicle, beating even the Corvette ZR1’s prior benchmark. Read on to find out what the 1LE package actually does to make that possible.
For three weeks in early 2017, Dodge fed the internet nothing but teasers for its upcoming Challenger SRT Demon, letting forums debate whether it would top the Hellcat’s 707 horsepower. The eventual reveal delivered 840 horsepower, a 9.65-second quarter mile, and a Guinness-certified wheelie — numbers big enough to justify weeks of speculation. Read on to find out how the hype campaign actually played out.